Wednesday, April 27, 2011

I know that Pathfinder is probably not a popular game in this corner of Blogaria.

My friend Josh, who is in the Sunday group and the Traveller group and the mostly defunct Hackmaster group and just about everything I've run for the past six years is into it.

My wife is into it. (Well, 3.5, but I think she'd be down for the Pathfinder train)

Her best friend, who is coming back for the summer, is into it. (Well, 3.5, just like the wife)

I can think of a few friends/gamers who are into it. (Yes, I associate with people who don't share my enthusiasm for yellowed old books with attack matrices and purple prose- the horror)

Point is: PF may have a certain inevitability in my future. Right now I'd rather play a PF game that runs than a game that doesn't, for instance.(Hack and Traveller are essentially done)

I will grant PF a few things mechanically, but for me the main draw is my ability to include people in gaming who are not currently included. It also reminds me of the good times I had with a previous gaming group that only played 3.5; I enjoyed the company and I enjoyed the campaign and characters, even if I did have some frustrations with the system. I'd also take any iteration of D&D 3.x over 4.0 any day of the week, but that horse is quite dead, so I shall say no more.

With the return of my wife's best friend, there exists the possibility of getting the band back together.

In the meantime, Traveller looks to be dead in the water. I really like the campaign we were developing, but honestly I just can't go back to Trav now that I've had Stars Without Number. (Which I am continuing with and am running this Sunday, in fact) Perhaps I will ask the group one more time to bring it back. Alternatives have been suggested as well, but nothing to which I am giving serious thought yet.

I still like old D&D better. Honest.

Now, if anybody needs me, I'm going to take my lightsaber and go find all those Jedi children...I have something I need to... tell them...

Friday, April 22, 2011

In the past 72 hours, I have been to two gaming stores and one used bookstore, and I have not purchased a single thing. This is kind of a big deal for me.

A virus has left my computer bereft of my files, though I have rid myself of it. I am rebuilding my PDF collection. I got back most of the paid-for PDFs that I bought in the last few years... though the website seems to have no record of my Delving Deeper bonus character classes. Oh, well...they were only seventy-five cents apiece, and really, creating those classes (bards, rangers, paladins, monks) for older versions of D&D isn't really that difficult anyway. The free stuff, of course, was easy enough to acquire again.

Although all my players are back in town, there was no mention of Traveller this week. I have the suspicion that it isn't going to survive the low berth transport, and that it has already quietly died. I find myself, for the moment, largely indifferent...probably because I am running Stars Without Number every other week, and I consider SWN to be a vastly superior game. (Or at least, a game much more suited to my sensibilities.)

Mindy continues to forge bravely ahead on RWG, the RIFTS-to-SWN project. I think her conversion stuff also borrows a lot from Traveller, making it different from mine mechanically. It seems we will have two different versions of RWG. Personally, I think I'm going to have to shelve work on my version until summer vacation. I am also inclined to step aside and let her have her version; she is, after all, the RIFTS GM for our group. Right now, my contribution will be the SWN game.

I am once again game-crushing on Savage Worlds, and on how completely awesome Pinnacle is to its customers. I have a lot of ideas that I would love to try out with Savage Worlds... ah, if only there were more days in a week.

I am quite tired of the A to Z blog thing, and look forward to seeing it gone from my little sidebar.

No game on Sunday, due to that strange egg-finding holiday. I find religious holidays that cancel gaming to be particularly vexing, since I am an atheist.

Hackmaster has not run in several weeks. I think it has actually been canceled more than it has been run.

That copy of RIFTS Gold is still at the used bookstore, as are the two copies of Terra Primate I found sometime last year. One of them vanished for a time, but has reappeared. Strangely enough, it is now marked six bucks higher than the other copy, despite having slightly more cover wear.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tonight I was prowling the shelves of the LGS, and I chanced upon Dragon Dice... it appears to be a re-release of the old collectible dice game published by TSR in its Autumn Years. I didn't see the Wizards/Hasbro logo on it anywhere, so I'm guessing some other company must have acquired the rights.

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

I know that in this corner of the Blogverse, there are those who believe that the Golden Age was a time when Ol' Man Gary ruled from an ivory throne and game books had pentagrams and saggy harpy titties inked upon their forbidden pages. I missed out on that fun. When I came into the hobby, it was 1991: TSR was publishing more than half a dozen settings for AD&D 2nd edition, Vampire was just hitting the streets, (though it would not corrupt my innocent sensibilities for another six years) and people bitched at each via BBS rather than blog.

I know nothing of the business side of the hobby, but as I dig through the used bins of local book/game stores and sift through the fuzzy memories of my early gaming days, I can't help but get the impression that the 90's were a better time to be an RPG publisher. Hey, correct me if I'm wrong; it's just my perception. It seems like even the most obscure ideas for a game could find some root. It seems like game writers and designers could easily do things full time, and gaming companies had offices, and each company could field multiple game lines and see them flourish. Of course, I was 10 when I started gaming and merely 18 at the end of the 90's, when WotC took over, so maybe this is all rose colored lenses and blissful ignorance.

The color pieces from 90's TSR projects are still among my favorite gaming art, particularly the color pics in the Gamma World 4th edition rule book. Mmm.... Al-Qadim, Alternity... TSR's color artwork can almost do no wrong by me, and many of the pictures in the AD&D 2nd edition PHB and DMG are so much a part of my early gaming experiences that I can't forget them. Tim Bradstreet pictures in old Shadowrun and White Wolf...

Yes, the sort of nostalgia for 80's TSR passes me over, because I missed that boat by virtue of my date of birth. For me, the 90's are the Golden Age: the art, the dizzying variety of games, the sense that there was a strong industry that wasn't afraid to take risks...

Before you conjure up rain for my little parade with your "accurate historical facts" and other assorted bullshit, let me inform you, dear reader, that I know just how rose-colored these glasses are; I find them comfortable and would like to wear them yet a little while. I know that my Big Corporate TSR memories are not as "pure" as staring at Aphrodite's tits in Deities & Demigods or wanting to write up a stat block for Emirikol the Chaotic, but I can't ever appreciate the old stuff for the same reasons you old-timers do. (Though you can rest assured that I would rather run AD&D1 over AD&D2...I just like the trade dress of AD&D2 better)

Monday, April 18, 2011

The project I recently mentioned, in which I am converting a Certain Game with Mega-Damage to Stars Without Number/D&D now has a name. The name of the project is RWG. My group knows what it means; I will leave you, dear readers, to determine what the acronym stands for.

After discussion it with my group a little today, I can see I have along row to hoe, even if I am just converting the main rulebook for now. I have started on a very simple Cyborg character class. (Actually, Cyborg is just a specialization of the Warrior class, not so much a class unto itself.) I'm not sure how much progress I'll make in the next few weeks, given that I must start preparing finals and final projects and do book inventories and whatnot... I will try not to put it entirely off until summer, though.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

I was a bit bewildered... the PC who died had only one hit point left and was engaging a known hazard that required a saving throw to avoid a poison of Toxicity 7, Interval of 1 minute, Virulence 1, 1d3 dmg. per failed save. The PC also did not observe a known precaution that granted +2 to his saving throw. The PC with the medkit failed to make his skill check when said PC failed his save, so he took the point of damage and died.

Today I gave experience based on the cash value of loot found, plus 100 xp/HD of monst-er, I mean, alien slain, plus a bit for completing some optional quests. Since there is no way to revive dead PCs, I divided the experience among the survivors, which was enough to send the Experts to 2nd level.

Today's session was pretty much a D&D session with lasers. The PCs are stuck on a planet, trying to repair their starship and devise a means of escape from the pretech automated defense system on the planet's moon, which shot them down to begin with. I've sprinkled the planet with hostile indigenous aliens, hostile medieval/Puritan/xenophobic descendants of the original pre-Scream colony, a crazy scientist doing maltech experiments, crashed escape pods possibly filled with space convicts, some ominous pre-tech ruins, and a variety of hostile fauna of my own devising.

Saturday, April 16, 2011

So... Mike went ahead of us to the convention with his son. He reported back to us that the con was mostly a lot of complaining... the scheduled games were not being run, and in fact it seemed that little was to be had in the way of gaming. Two of the folks I was going with ended up not going, so I held an impromptu gaming day at my house. (I had to do a bit of excavating and decontamination, as it had not been used by other gamers since the AD&D campaign) We ended up playing Talisman and Betrayal at House on the Hill, which aren't rpgs but are damn fun board games. Right now we're throwing together characters so Josh can put us through a Deadlands "one sheet" adventure downloaded from Pinnacle's website. I love the fact that Pinnacle has something like two dozen ready-do-go adventures for a variety of their settings, as well as generic genre stuff.

Honestly, this kind of puts me out of the convention mood this year. There's a new big-ish (for the Midwest) one in town I will probably attend with the missus, because we probably won't go to our usual local con this year on account of a wedding that we are apparently invited to.

The day wasn't a total loss... I saved twenty bucks and a quarter tank of gas. We had fun and are actually still having fun. (Deadlands starts in about 15 minutes) Tomorrow our usual Sunday bunch will be playing Stars Without Numbers, starting a little bit early.

Yeah, here's to Basement Con 1! All the gaming goodness without the awkward cosplayers.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Tomorrow I am attending Constellation, a new and humble con running for its second year in my hometown. I'm going with several members of my Sunday group, as well as a friend who was in my AD&D1 game from awhile back.

For once, I don't feel the manic need to slap together a game to run at the last minute. I think I'm just going to enjoy this one as a tourist... maybe watch some bad sci-fi, play some board games, and abuse the hospitality in the con suite. I am unable to drink this year, unfortunately, but the silver lining is that I don't risk a repeat of the Great Scotch Fiasco from last year. (Not nearly as exciting or scandalous as it sounds) I will potentially see some folks from my old college sci-fi club, as well as those non-gaming nerds I seem to run into only at conventions. I shall also dine at Taco Inn, for it is supreme among bad/cheap taco eateries.

If we get there in time, I might actually give the Serenity RPG a try. Aside from that, I expect to play some Talisman, Omega Virus, and perhaps some Chrononauts. It should be a good time.

Since we're only going up for the day, I plan to run Stars Without Number normally this Sunday. Having just finished my umpteen millionth play through of Mass Effect 2, I've got sci-fi a'coursin' through my veins.

I believe I shall get off this computer, put on some Robotech, and sketch a few notes for SWN.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

A project has recently taken root in my mind, and I find it growing rapidly despite a million other things that should really be higher priority...

I'm converting a Certain Game with a setting I dig and rules I absolutely loath to Stars Without Number. (Well, a bastardized Stars Without Number/D&D hybrid, really... but SWN is based on D&D...snake eating it's tail... hobby/mental illness, etc, etc, etc.) I'm not going to name the game, lest I be stricken with Litigation From Above (and this publisher doesn't seem to be scurrrred when it comes to the courtroom), but should it happen I will take my work down and continue it in secret. (I'm thinking a cabin in the woods, manifesto-style)

Anyway, this game has five character classes: Warrior, Magic-User, Adventurer/Scholar, Psychic, and DeeBee/Alien. The classes are broad. Each class has a specialization package similar to the training packages in SWN.

Some of the Warrior specialties include things like Cyborg, Juicer, Power Armor Pilot, Psi-Knight, etc.
Some of the Magic-User specialties include Ley Line Master and Elementalist.
Some of the Adventurer/Scholar specialties include Renegade Scholar, City Runner, and BodyDoc.
The DeeBee/Alien class actually includes a number of race-classes, a la the elf, dwarf, and halfling of older D&D. Instead of a class "specialty," each specialty is actually a different race. Some examples would be K-9s, Gracklejaws, etc.

The gun and armor Tech Levels from SWN would be appropriated to simulate the damage scales from the original game, particularly weapons that can blow right through certain armor, and certain armor that is impervious to certain weapons. This scale, however, will be far less extreme... Hit Points will still matter.

Psychic powers will probably be lifted from SWN, with a few converted in from the original source material.
Skills will work more like SWN than like the original game.
Magic...well, I might just steal it wholesale from D&D, converting over the relatively few spells I like from the original game. I might even turn the old spell slot system into a simple spell point system.

So far, this is about all I have... not very in depth, but the more I think about it, the more appealing the idea is. Incidentally, my RI- er, one of the GMs from my Sunday game, Mindy, seems quite supportive of my efforts.

The purpose of this project is only to create a set of house rules for my Sunday group to enjoy a Certain Game without having to constantly modify the rules for our own sanity. We love the setting, we just.... yeah. I'm sure you get the idea.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

I used to be quite the fan of Eden Studios back in college... I loved AFMBE, Conspiracy X, the Buffy/Angel games, etc... but the one Eden game I always wanted to try but never got the chance to was Witchcraft. The game released a second edition early into last decade, but as far as I can tell, it is out of print.

Witchcraft is kind of the game that I wish Mage: the Ascension had been. I'm not knocking on Mage, because I still have a soft spot for it, but I always felt that it didn't quite fit into White Wolf's "old World of Darkness" as well as Vampire and the like. Witchcraft actually seems like a game that better shares the mood and feel of classic White Wolf.

Let me also say that I dig on CJ Carella's work, and it really is too bad that he apparently left the gaming industry a few years back. (I recall there was a thread over on Big Purple asking where he'd gone, and he was actually good enough to show up and explain to his fans why we don't see any new Carella stuff anymore) CJ also created Nightspawn/Nightbane for Palladium, which I think is rockin' awesome, concept-wise. (It uses the Palladium rules, of course, which is a strike against any game)

I happened across a used copy of Witchcraft at the used book store (incidentally, that copy of RIFTS Gold Edition I posted about a month or two ago is still there...) and I happened to have a coupon, so I snapped it up. I don't know if I'll ever have the chance to run it, but it's good to actually have it in my collection at long last. The wife said she'd actually be interested in playing it. She was also quite delighted to learn that it is compatible with AFMBE. (My wife loves her some zombies)

My Sunday group has asked a player not to return. Although we once asked a GM to step down (he still played in a the group for awhile afterward, though ended up moving out of state) this time we have out and out asked a player never to return.

I may have mentioned him once or twice; he was the fellow with the iGadget he liked to wave around during game sessions. I had a lengthy post on why we kicked him out, but I'll just condense it and say that he was not a good fit, personality wise, with the rest of the group.

Oh, and he left a giant QT cut full of tobacco chew-spit* at the host's house, despite having been asked to take it with him and dispose of it elsewhere. That was the straw that broke the camel's back.

I'm actually hoping that this event we have just experienced convinces the group that my xenophobia/elitism isn't always a bad thing...

Anyway... the Sunday group moves on. We've restarted the Deadlands game that we put on hold in December. We're alternating Deadlands and Stars Without Number. This week will be SWN session 2.

The Sunday crew might be attending a small convention together this Saturday. It's in my home town, about fifty miles away. I went with two other friends of mine last year. It's a pretty humble con, but I'd like to see it grow. I find that I am not quite as jazzed about con season as I was last summer, but I think it might be fun to get out and away from the table with the Sunday group. Monte Cook once posted his "10 Rules of Gaming," and although I have forgotten nine of them, I remember that one was "Never game with someone you wouldn't spend an evening with doing something else." (Probably badly paraphrased, but you get the idea) Given the somewhat sparse programming schedule, we likely won't be doing any rpg play at this con, but there are other things to do as well. I'm currently unable to drink due to a prescription I'm taking, so this year I don't have to worry about getting chastised for not sipping my scotch properly.

*If you chew and are offended...well...chew is fucking vile. Deal with it.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

As I mentioned very briefly in my last post, Stars Without Number doesn't really give you a set method for awarding experience points. It lists some of the methods and it provides a handy chart for determining level-up rates and roughly how much experience you should dole out to level in X amount of sessions, but what exactly you give experience for is sort of left up to you, with an implied default of xp for treasure earned (and "earned" can take a lot of forms, as can the precise definition of "treasure.)

Experience points are kind of a funny thing. They've been done differently in just about every iteration of D&D that's ever been iterated. In the Olden Days, experience was granted for combat, but that paled in comparison to the xp given for loot carted back from the dungeon. Last summer, in my brief and sadly aborted online B/X game, I discovered that the paltry 125 xp you get for killing a goddamn can-kill-you-twice-in-one-round medusa is a tiny drop in the bucket for adventurers who are at the appropriate level to challenge her with hope of success; her treasure type, by contrast, is worth an average of around 10,000 xp. I use this little tidbit of data whenever I try to explain the futility of combat in older versions of D&D.

Talking to my group about it last week, it was suggested that I hand out experience entirely by my own fiat. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this, if only because experience points have been Holy Writ in D&D for so long that I feel the game is somehow incomplete without them. (If I'm handing them out by fiat, I am essentially deciding how many sessions we play before the players get to level, right?) If I'm going to get rid of experience points, I might as well give the magic-user plate mail and a d12 hit die. It's anarchy!

...ahem. I did end up giving them 600 points each, which was mostly an arbitrary number derived from the suggested 750 that SWN suggests for 1st level characters.

So as I sit here an spin my tires, I find myself going back and looking at the various ways experience points are awarded in the versions of D&D that I am familiar with:

*B/X D&D: Experience is awarded for combat, with monsters being worth an amount based on a loose formula that calculates Hit Die and special abilities. Generally, monsters are worth relatively little experience points considering the threat they can pose. Experience is awarded for treasure on a 1 xp per 1 gp basis. The emphasis is clearly on the acquisition of treasure. (Let's not forget that a great deal of horded treasure is also necessary to build that 9th level stronghold, but that's another post entirely)

*Cyclopedic D&D- Same as above, though the formula for monsters might be slightly different. Treasure is still the way to go. The cyclopedia also has rules for giving experience for quests/objectives completed and for roleplaying. Objectives (which are left very open) are worth an amount equal to the experience gained from foes overcome to attain said objective. In theory, this is good, but in practice, I've found that it essentially just means double xp for monsters, but you have to wait until a good stopping point to collect. The roleplaying is calculated at 1/20th of what the character needs for the entire level. (So for a 1st level fighter it would be 20 points, 5% or 1/20th of what he needs to go from 1st to 2nd level, which is 2,000 total points.)The percentage keeps the award from being disproportionate for the classes, although some players might balk at the notion that an elf's role-playing is worth double the number of points of a fighter's.

*AD&D 1st Edition- Points are awarded for monsters, which seemed to be higher rewards-wise, but xp for treasure is still in effect and still totally the way to go. No awards mentioned for roleplay. I think this is where xp awards for magical item construction and other obscure bits comes in to play. I'm mainly focusing on stuff that most characters can cash in on.

*AD&D 2nd Edition: Points for combat.I recall that there was an optional system for class based experience awards, but I recall it being poorly implemented. A 1st level thief can climb a dozen walls and level, while a fighter still has to single-handedly kill something like 100 orcs solo.

*D&D 3rd Edition: Combat only. The experience you get is now determined by a monster's Challenge Rating, an arbitrary and sometimes wonky estimation of monster danger vs. party level. Experience awards are also scaled so that monsters that are "beneath you" in terms of CR are worth progressively less experience. (By the same token, fighting a monster who is a few CRs higher is worth more) This is the first version of D&D where all classes level at the same rate.

*D&D 4th Edition- Experience is awarded for combat, with monsters being worth a flat award determined mainly by the monster's level. (Yes, they have levels now) Experience points are also awarded for major and minor quests, quests being goals set by the DM. (Infiltrate the Black Tower, safely escort the diplomat to the Elf Queen's palace, etc.) Experience points are also awarded for Skill Challenges. (Essentially a sort of combat against a situation using skill checks) While I actually sort of liked the alternative options for experience in the wake of 3.0/3.5, the emphasis is still heavily on combat. All classes still level at equal rates in this version. Disclaimer: my knowledge of 4e is congruent with the state of the game in December 2008. It is my understanding that there have been revisions to the way Skill Challenges work, and possibly to other mechanics, but I have not kept up to date. (...and there's no need to update me on it, either)

Sooooo, what have we got?
I can award experience for monsters and make it worth relatively little, a la B/X, or make it worth their while a la 3rd ed.

I can award experience for "treasure" (my definition being money and valuables taken from an expedition/adventure), or on an xp-per-credit basis. \

I can award xp for "quests" or objectives, either scaling it or being totally arbitrary.

I can award a level after a set number of "encounters" or some other defined mark of progress.

I have seen other good ideas on the blogosphere as well; things such as xp for distance traveled or xp for places visited.

I can hand out experience points for "good roleplaying."

I suppose the best way to determine what I should give experience for should be based on what activities or styles of play I want to encourage in my game. Bingo.

Allow me to table this for the moment. I have to get up in a little less than six hours. To be continued...

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Combat is ultra fast, although I am a little curious about why a d8 is the initiative die instead of the venerable d6 or d10 of older D&D.

Combat is deadly. The PCs started out with five NPC companions/henchmen and the only big combat of the session quickly left them with two. First level characters have a lot to be afraid of...most weapons in the game will probably kill a first level character in one shot.

SWN doesn't really give you much guidance with regards to experience awards. This is something my group actually discussed afterward and will merit its own post.

SWN is dead simple but feels substantial enough to satisfy me.

Some of the group seemed to be a bit iffy on the combat roll mechanic. (d20+Attack Bonus+Attribute Modifier+Combat Skill+Opponent's AC, target number 20) Yes, the math is pretty much the same as older attack tables or THAC0 formulas or the like, but I might go ahead and make up tables if that is what the group prefers.

The psionics seem a little weak at 1st level, but then the group psychic took Telepathy and Precognition as his starting disciplines.

For those that care, our campaign set up:

Half our PCs belong to the Gecko Corporation, a mining concern made up by Mindy. I added the detail that Gecko Corporation buys prisoners as indentured servants as part of a trade deal with the planet Galdera, a newly self-appointed regional hegemon. (Self-appointed with battleships, that is)

The other half of our PCs were prisoners aboard the Galderan transport ship Guardian, bound for the penal colony Tartarus, unless they were picked to become part of the Gecko Corp indentured service program...

The deal for half the PCs to buy out the other half was interrupted by the Guardian being blasted by the pretech automated defense systems on the uninhabited moon they were orbiting to seal the deal. A frantic romp to the escape pods ensued. Luckily, the computers on the escape pods found that the nearby planet Valifor was habitable and listed as in the "pre-colonization" status. The Gecko ship was blasted as well, but managed to make a crash landing on the surface of Valifor, though separated from the PCs downed escape pods by miles of inhospitable mountains.After making contact with their ship, they determined that repairs were necessary.

The party is now engaged on a sort of free roaming planet crawl. They have located several points of interest -indigenous and xenophobic indigenous humans likely descended from a fallen pretech colony, sapient frog men with poisoned arrows, acid-spitting fauna, flying plants, a remote research station with heavily armed soldiers and headed up by an insane scientist, several other escape pods from the Guardian (most of them not responding to contact, some possibly having been commandeered by inmates from the ship), possible pretech ruins in a foreboding swamp, and their own damaged spaceship, which they are now having trouble raising on the transceiver.

Saturday, April 2, 2011

Today, I was perusing the Boneyard (used game section) of my Local Game Store when I overheard a patron who was selling off some old D&D stuff. He was lamenting the fact that his favorite versions of D&D were old D&D and Pathfinder, and that he couldn't find anyone local who likes the old games and that his 3.5 group split because he wanted to switch to Pathfinder and they all hate Pathfinder. (Oh, how I love these endless schisms and factions...it's almost like we're all Protestants!)

For a moment, I considered chatting him up and telling him that I know plenty of people who are into older versions of D&D, and that I have run such in the recent past. I also thought about telling him that Josh, from my Sunday game, is interested in starting up a game of Pathfinder.

Ah, but I didn't.

I remained silent. I let him leave the store.

...and I rummaged through the shit he sold as soon as the store clerk put it on the shelves.

Basic D&D character sheets, unused. (Basic as in "elf is a character class") Snapped up.
Gamma World 4th edition (That would be TSR's 4th edition from the early 90's not the Hasbro 4th edition) Snapped up, mainly as a sourcebook for Mutant Future.
DMG 1st edition, PHB 2nd edition, Unearthed Arcana...passed up, as I own all three.
Tome of Magic, briefly considered but passed up. I may go back and get it tomorrow.

Oh, I've also been engaged in a bit of game book profiteering lately. I managed to sell my copy of that much-maligned MERPS book I picked up a few months back... bought it for six bucks, sold it for thirty. I also sold a copy of Dungeons & Zombies (fantasy supplement for AFMBE) for three times what I paid for it.
My copy of Rogue Trader (the recent Black Industries version, not the old Games Workshop version) is also on the chopping block.

Stars Without Number starts tomorrow. I need to do a little more prep work, so I will conclude this blog entry and get it done.